Cairo - Egyptian students have been traumatized by a dreaded
high school English language examination, with one student trying to
jump out of a window of a school in a provincial town in northern
Egypt because of the state exam, a local newspaper said Sunday.
In the town of Hihyah, a student by the name of Mohamed Ibrahim
hurried out of the classroom and tried to jump out of a window on the
second floor of the school building only about 15 minutes after exam
papers were handed out, according to Egypt's independent daily al-
Masri al-Youm.
Ibrahim was stopped by teachers. He is now in police custody in
Hihyah, 100 kilometres north-east of Cairo.
In another school, exam monitors allowed students frustrated by
the same English language exam to cheat by letting them use their
cell phones to ask for the right answers.
In other schools in Egypt, students were gripped by hysteria and
some even passed out as soon as they took a glance at the English
language test.
Every year, the general secondary exam, known as Thanawiya Amma,
puts thousands of students, like Ibrahim, their families and
education authorities under extreme psychological and financial
pressure.
The dreaded test is crucial because it shapes a student's future
and social status in a class-conscious country where social mobility
is helped by education.
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